Dutch oppose Qatar World Cup in any season

The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) opposes the recommendation of FIFA's advisory board to go ahead with the 2022 Qatar World Cup, but moving it to November and December instead of summer months. FIFA will make its final decision in March.

KNVB has indicated at a very early stage of the decision making process that it is not in favour of moving the 2022 World Cup to winter, the association stated.

As Qatar's bid includes playing the World Cup during the summer, the extremely high temperatures of summer months have raised concerns. The average temperature in June is 33 celsius and climbs up to 35 in July. While 40 degrees celsius is relatively common during summer as well, it does not play in favour of footballers. Therefore KNVB would like to reconsider the event's entire bidding process.

KNVB is now investigating jointly with top-level Dutch league Eredivisie (ECV) and the first division (CED) to find out what kind of an impact the winter World Cup would have on Eredivisie, Champions League, Europa League, and other Dutch and European competitions. The consequences for amateur football should also be investigated further if the Netherlands have to take part in the World Cup during winter, KNVB states in their press release.

The head of KNVB, Michael van Praag, is challenging FIFA president Sepp Blatter in a bid to oust the longtime incumbent. Van Praag is concerned about FIFA and wants to "fully normalize the organization," he said.